Scottish Art

Floating Heads
by Sophie Cave, Kelvingrove

Scottish Art can be taken as visual or three dimensional art
produced within the modern area of Scotland since
earliest times, or by Scots abroad. Parts of it form a distinctive tradition
within wider British or European art, with particular contributions being made
in the field of architecture: but on the whole, Scotland's distinctive
contribution to European art has had a little less impact than its distinctive
contribution to European literature.

The history of art in Scotland dates back to at least 3100BC. The
residents of Skara Brae
on Orkney didn't just settle and
build homes, they also carved abstract decoration into some of the stones in
the walls of those homes and made, or at least used, decorated pottery. Similar
examples of decorated stones have been found elsewhere in Scotland. Perhaps
more widespread are the "cup and ring" marks carved into rocks and stones over
large parts of Scotland from around the same era. Their purpose is unknown and
they are usually classified as examples of "megalithic art".

The Romans spent several periods of time between AD 80 and AD 209
occupying parts of the southern half of Scotland, and left artistic evidence of
their passing in the form of carvings, inscriptions, decorated pottery, coins
and more: but while this might qualify within the literal definition of
"Scottish Art" set out above, it's hardly within the spirit of it, so we'll
pass swiftly by.

The period from AD 500 to 1000 saw two separate lines of artistic
development which during the second half of the period merged together. The
first of these was the enormous collection of Pictish art to be found across
large parts of Scotland. Much of it is carved on stones, though some is also
found on metalwork and jewellery.

Quite separately, Celtic religious art started to spread across
Scotland, along with the faith it represented, from its initial points of
arrival at Whithorn and
Iona. This took the form of elaborate
carvings, especially on crosses and grave slabs, and later made a contribution
to the preparation of some of the great manuscripts of the era like the Irish
Book of Kells. The two strands began to merge as the Picts were increasingly
converted to Christianity, this merger being exemplified by Pictish
cross-slabs: stones carved with Christian motifs.

The supplanting of the Celtic Church across Scotland by the Roman
Church, in the years before 1100, coupled with the increasing influence of the
Norman English, left Scotland with little indigenous artistic tradition to
speak of. This did not stop a huge wave of church and abbey building over the
following few centuries. The results were magnificent, if generally using the
recognised international styles of the day. The exception to this was in the
west and north of Scotland, areas which increasingly from AD 800 came under the
influence and control of the Vikings. Viking art that has survived is often in
the form of elaborate decoration of objects with stylised or mythical
creatures.

The Renaissance arrived fairly late in Scotland, and left less of a
mark on the country than it did on most of Europe. Nonetheless the middle
Stewart Scottish Kings, James III,IV and
V fully appreciated the
power of grand architecture: and the royal palaces at
Linlithgow,Stirling,Falkland and Holyrood
reflect what they considered to be the best of contemporary French
architecture.

Perhaps the low point in the history of Scottish Art came in the
years after 1560. The Reformation in
Scotland introduced an especially radical brand of Presbyterian Protestantism,
whose first imperative was to sweep away - in many cases literally destroy -
500 years of religious art, and usually the churches and abbeys that housed it
as well.

The exodus of the Scottish court to London on the coat-tails of
James VI/I in 1603 did
not have as much of an impact on the nation's cultural life as might have been
expected. During this period the portrait painter George Jamesone, who lived
from 1590 to 1644, became the first Scottish-born artist to emerge as a named
individual. Moving forward another century, the
Scottish Enlightenment of the
second half of the 1700s marked a major blossoming of the artistic life of the
nation. Scottish artists and, especially, architects, started to make an
increasing mark on the international scene. The buildings of men like Charles
Cameron, James Gibbs, William
Adam and Robert Adam
became increasingly well known. Meanwhile painters like David Allan,
Allan Ramsay, Gavin
Hamilton and Sir Henry
Raeburn became widely respected.

The 1800s was a period of dramatic growth in the population, wealth
and level of industrialisation of central Scotland and the period produced some
notable architects like Alexander "Greek"
Thompson. Meanwhile, the Royal Scottish Academy of Art was founded in 1826,
and painters like Sir David
Wilkie and William McTaggart came to prominence.

Another notable arrival on the Scottish arts scene was the Glasgow
School of Art, founded in 1845. In the final years of the century this was to
have a truly dramatic influence in the form of the various factions of the
Glasgow School. During this period
The Glasgow Boys, a loose group of male painters,
added their spin to Impressionism and the Post-Impressionist world. At around
the same time the group of female graduates of the Glasgow School of Art known
as The Glasgow Girls also started to make their
mark. Among them were sisters Frances and
Margaret Macdonald,
who are perhaps better remembered as the female members of The Four, which formed when they teamed up with
Margaret's husband Charles Rennie
Mackintosh and his colleague Herbert MacNair. What emerged became known
internationally as the Glasgow Style and went on to become a key inspiration
for Art Nouveau.

The 1920s saw the arrival of the Scottish Colourists, who formed
part of a wider Modernist movement known as the Scottish Renaissance. Post war
Scotland has benefitted from a thriving arts scene, in part down to the
positive influence of the Edinburgh Festival, which began
in 1947. Important Scottish artists over the past few decades have included
Eduardo Paolozzi, Ian
Hamilton Finlay, Douglas Gordon, Lucy McKenzie, Christopher Orr and Jack
Vettriano.